Federal prosecutors filed a series of complaints in Los Angeles today seeking to recover more than $1 billion they claim was stolen from a Malaysian investment fund and used for purposes such as buying high-end Southland real estate and even investing in the 2013 film “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
According to court documents filed by the Justice Department, high- ranking officials of 1Malaysia Development Berhad, which was created by the Malaysian government, allegedly misappropriated more than $3.5 billion from the wealth fund between 2009-15. Prosecutors are trying to recover more than $1 billion they claim was laundered through the United States.
Prosecutors allege the stolen funds were used for elaborate purchases such as high-end real estate and hotels in Los Angeles and New York, artwork by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet, an interest in the music-publishing rights of EMI Music and the production of “The Wolf of Wall Street,” the 2013 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
“The Department of Justice will not allow the American financial system to be used as a conduit for corruption,” U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said. “With this action, we are seeking to forfeit and recover funds that were intended to grow the Malaysian economy and support the Malaysian people. Instead, they were stolen, laundered through American financial institutions and used to enrich a few officials and their associates. Corrupt officials around the world should make no mistake that we will be relentless in our efforts to deny them the proceeds of their crimes.”
Federal authorities said the 16 complaints filed in Los Angeles represent the largest single action ever brought under the Justice Department’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative.
